Shaun Wills’ bankruptcy declaration overturned in court

Wednesday 15 April 2015 - Editorial Assistant

Former Chief Financial Officer of Supergroup, Shaun Wills, was yesterday relieved from the proclamation of his personal bankruptcy by Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Wills, who was forced to step down from his role at Supergroup, has settled a court annulment in the result of paying back money owed in a tax dispute. The experienced accountant earned over £500k annually but had been caught with a long on-going disputation with the taxman.

The former senior director at Superdry’s owner, Supergroup, was declared bankrupt on 10 February by HM Revenue & Customs. Wills told The Times that he was in a tax dispute with HMRC that lasted at least five years, involving £160,000 of owed tax on his behalf.

Wills insisted he was not trying to profit from the situation, claiming there had been a breakdown of communication with HMRC and citing incompetence of the methods on behalf of the taxman.

“I put all of my energies into my work and not enough of my energies into my personal situation and I should have fixed it much sooner,” he said.

Supergroup was made aware of the dispute back in February, and subsequently informed Wills of his immediate resignation. The announcement followed just two weeks after its Chief Operating Officer Susanne Given had immediately stepped down from the board. "This is a personal matter, on which SuperGroup will not comment further, and is wholly unrelated to the financial position of the company" said the group.

SuperGroup had replaced Wills with Nick Wharton, former CEO of Dunelm Group and CFO at Halfords.

Shares in the company fell by more than 3% in February after the company’s departures. Wills, who joined SuperGroup in April 2012, said he did not intend on returning to the business. The former chief operating officer at Habitat and finance director of Fat Face is considering other offers.